Outstanding with new ball, Arshdeep becomes highest wicket-taker for India in T20Is with 97 wickets, surpassing Yuzvendra Chahal’s record of 96 wickets
Resurgent mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy weaves his magic again
Rest of the bowlers dish out listless performances
Shami surprisingly made to wait for his comeback international appearance after more than one year of recovering from injury
Abhishek Sharma makes most of another opportunity granted to him to prove his worth at the top of the order, taking the game away from England in the run chase
This is India’s 7th consecutive T20 win in Kolkata
India got off to a flying start in their 5-match T20I series against visiting England with a dominant 7-wicket victory and 43 balls to spare in the first encounter at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday. But to say that the current world No. 1 T20 team played like champions would be a big overstatement. The enormity of the victory had more to do with England’s shockingly inept batting and bowling display.
The only stand out performances from the visitors were captain Jos Butler’s batting (68 off 44 balls, 8x4s, 2x6s), who accounted for more than half their total of 132 runs after Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bowl first, and Jofra Archer’s bowling (2-21 in his quota of 4 overs). Only two other batters reached double figures, and all the other frontline bowlers were off the mark with their line and length, going for plenty of runs.
There weren’t too many stand out bowling performances from India either.
Highest T20 wicket-taker
Pacer Arshdeep Singh, as expected was outstanding with the new ball, taking, as he always does, wickets in the powerplay (both his wickets on Wednesday – of openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett – came in his first two consecutive overs).
Generating pace and moving the ball both ways in moist conditions, he got wicketkeeper-batsman Salt for a third ball duck in his first over with a well-directed bouncer which took the batter by surprise. In his second over, after left-handed Duckett scooped him for a four, he found the England opener’s edge next ball while attempting another attacking shot and Rinku Singh took a well-judged catch running back a fair distance from cover to reach the high skier.
With these two wickets (2 for 17) Arshdeep has become the highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket for India with 97 wickets from 61 matches, surpassing Yuzvendra Chahal’s 96 from 80 matches. He is now placed ninth on the list of all time highest T20 wicket-takers among all ICC full member nations. New Zealand’s Tim Southee sits on top of the list with 164 wickets, following by Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan with 161.
Perhaps even more impressive was a resurgent mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, whom all English batters failed to read. He accounted for the wickets of Harry Brook (17) and Liam Livingstone (duck) in one over, and later also claimed the prize wicket of Jos Butler, who was going great guns, to finish with figures of 3 for 23.
The other three bowlers – Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi – were largely listless, though the former two did eventually take a couple of wickets each. Hardik went for 18 runs in his second over and Axar for 15 runs in his first. Ravi Bishnoi for large part was wayward and went wicketless. The last man Mark Wood was run out on the last ball of the innings.
Chasing a modest total of 133, Indian openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma took on every English bowler other than Jofra Archer, who exploited the extra bounce and skid in the wicket beautifully, running his quota of 4 overs in one go and claiming two wickets in one over, that of Sanju Samson (26 off 20 balls, 4x4s, 1×6) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (duck).
Later Abhishek took the match away from England with his mighty hitting to all parts of the ground with not very long boundaries. He eventually fell to the spinner Adil Rashid going for the big one once too often for 79 (34 balls 5x4s, 8x6s). It was a luck favours the brave sort of innings. He was dropped by spinner Adil Rashid off his own bowling and more than a few skied shots either fell in no man’s land or just short of fielders.
It was an eminently forgettable outing for young pacer Gus Atkison, who shared the new ball with Jofra Archer. He was taken to the cleaners, gifting away 38 runs in the two overs he bowled in one-over spells.
Adil Rashid also proved expensive giving away 27 runs in his two overs, also bowled in one-over spells.
Mark Wood, though he generated real pace, looked impressive only in his first over. The fourth pacer Jamie Overton and spin bowling allrounder Liam Livingstone could bowl just one over each before India got to the target.
Mohd. Shami’s omission
Most surprisingly, India’s ace pacer Mohd. Shami, making a comeback to international cricket after over a year of recovering from injury, was left out of the playing XI on a pitch suited to his style of bowling, affording extra bounce and skid off the surface.
India went into the game with only one specialist pacer in Arshdeep Singh, with allrounders Hardik Pandya and Nitish Kumar Reddy as the other pace bowling options. It was not the smartest of decisions by the team management but would get buried in the heat of the victory.
With the win in the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, India have registered their 7th consecutive T20 victory in Kolkata.
Most consecutive wins at a venue in T20Is (Full ICC member teams)
8 consecutive times England – Cardiff (2010-21)
7 Pakistan – Karachi (2008-21)
7 India – Kolkata (2016-25)*
India won the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy in 2002 and 2013 and will look to win a third title. In the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, India reached the finals before losing to Pakistan.
